well I'm watching the news and they have a story about a APBT that bit a kid while he and the owner were walking him home after he ran away. The pitty bit the boy and a man who was getting him off by kicking (don't blame him). Then my brother says see pit bulls are evil (as I always tell my family they are good) of course I defend them, but the truth is I don't know why you always hear about Pit bulls attacking people and never any other breeds. At first I though maybe he was not even a pit but was a mix but he was clearly a APBT or Amstaff. So why do they bite? I know it is irresponsible owners and all that but I know all the other breeds have irresponsible owners too but why don't you hear about them nearly as much as with pits. It could be because a pit bull has so many breeds in the genre and because a lot of people who thenk pits are prone to bite get them because they actually want an aggressive dog and train them to be so, but why do you think they are always in the news and other breeds are not? Please don't turn this in to an argument or attack every body who apposes your view post, that was not my intension, but to be able to defend the breed after they bite I need to know why they always do it and other breeds don't.

I believe they bite because they were never trained properly. Some bite out of fear, others bite out of play(they can play rough).. etc etc..

As a young puppy, they weren't socialized properly i'm sure..

Riot used to bite people when he was little.. it was out of fear. Hes since grown out of that stage because I worked VERY hard with him. He'll now give strangers kisses(something he'd never attempt as a puppy).

Its just irresponsible owners that have the "tough" looking dogs.. They more then likely want a dog that is aggresive to make up for their position in society.

The APBT has been plagued with negative publicity a lot recently. There are at least 25 other purebred dogs that can be misidentified as an APBT as well as many crosses/mixes that have similar characteristics. Few people are truly able to correctly identify this breed. In the midst of an attack, in a panic situation, if they see a dog with short hair, muscles, and a boxy head they think automatically "Pit Bull". Not always true but with the negativity surrounding the breed I can understand their reaction.

I am in no way saying that there are no attacks done by the APBT, just pointing out that "Pit Bull" is such a generic term that it can include many different breeds and crosses of dog.

There are other dogs that attack and if you google news with dog bite or dog attack in your search, you will find more than just the "Pit Bull" It's just that when people hear "Pit Bull" they want to read what happened. They actually seem to enjoy hearing bad things about these animals. It a name that sells and interests people whether it's positive or negative.

Now, in regards to the APBT's that do bite. When it comes to raising these dogs, it should be top priority to socialize well. They can be protective of their owners and territory and if not taught that all humans are acceptable, you have a possibly dangerous situation. If a dog is kept isolated from others, it learns to fear other humans as possible threats. If owners of these dogs don't raise them properly, as with any breed, they become a risk. It's just unfortunate that they are larger than a shih tzu so can cause more damage when they do bite. Side note, all those reports you read about PSI levels for dog bites are out of wack. All dogs fall within the same range of power, about 230 PSI. The APBT usually holds and shakes, while a lot of other breeds will bite, let go, bite, let go, etc. Each type of bite causes different kinds of damage.

Now, we all realize that bad owners who raise them to be aggressive need to be removed from the picture. That's a given. A lot of the attacks that you hear of are free roaming unaltered animals. Bad situation on all counts.

There is also the BYB's that are in it for the money, so temperament testing their dogs doesn't even come into the picture. This creates an instability in the breed that has proven to be dangerous to people and to the breed itself. It never used to be this way, they were known as nanny dogs and could be trusted implicitly. It's a sad state of affairs.

All in all, these dog are not for everyone. Unless you have a lot of experience with raising smart, strong willed dogs, and train diligently, you may be setting up our breed for extinction.

When the APBT became the new fad breed to own, it was only a matter of time until problems arose. It happened with GSD's, Rott's, Dobie's and I'm sure, other breeds as well. To me, proper education about the breed instead of emotional reactions to news stories will, in the end, save these fine animals from extinction. At least, I'm hoping it will. I have never owned a better breed of animal. If bred and raised properly, they make fantastic animals that I take great pride in owning. I love my dogs above and beyond all the bad press they get, and as many others who own them will say, there is no other breed that I will love as much.

__________________"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."
-- Thomas Jefferson

Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail. - Henry Wheeler Shaw

back when i had my rottie, that's all i ever heard about - dog attack stories involving rotts. it was annoying. really annoying. my dog had to go above and beyond the call of any dog to prove her worth to the world.
but yeah, it's totally about fads. i remember when cockers where the #1 biter in the states.

3) When they do bite, it's catastrophic. Their size, strength and tendency to clamp down cause extreme damage in a short time, and that's newsworthy

They don't have superhuman jaws and/or strength or anything like this comment is leading people to believe. They bite no harder than any of your other large dog or medium to large dogs. They are not the strongest breed out there.

And what is newsworthy? It wasn't newsworthy when a 5 year old child by me ended up in the ICU for a week with horribly disfiguring bites to his upper torso & face & neck? Obviously it wasn't, because a lab did it & no one ever heard a peep from the news media.

3) They also attract non-trashy but inexperienced people who think that everything bad said about them is hype, and that it's bigotry to say they're any different than a Golden Retriever.

To be honest I dont see a difference between them and a golden retriever, sure they both are completly different dogs, but I dont see why they would be more likely to bite? But I dont have a lot of experience with them. I had a foster pit for 4 months, and that is the only pit I have ever *owned*. I do know they are stronger, but they are just as easy to train as say a golden retriever (unlike many other breeds).

I guess you have to be extra careful to make sure that they are well sociailized due to their bad rap but I dont think there is anything "wrong with them" that would cause human aggression except crappy owners.

I am the first to admit I am inexperienced but my foster's new "parents" seem very happy with him and think he is terrific. I read a lot on PBRC as well. But I do think a lot of it is "hype". Yes they have bitten & killed people, but I can list off lots of dog bites (some very serious) made by other dogs in my area that didnt "make the papers". One case a police dog viciously attacked it's handler for no apperant reason but that didnt make the paper-girl would have died had someone not been standing there. I do know they are different then golden retrievers but so are chis, dalmatians, german shepherds, and any other breed. No breed is the same.

back when i had my rottie, that's all i ever heard about - dog attack stories involving rotts. it was annoying. really annoying. my dog had to go above and beyond the call of any dog to prove her worth to the world.
but yeah, it's totally about fads. i remember when cockers where the #1 biter in the states.

I am involved in rescue and the lady who runs the rescue I volunteer with will NOT EVER pull another cocker spaniel because she said they are "little bitters". I have met a few sweet cocker spaniels who wouldnt bite though.

That and the news can't get the breed of a dog right if they tried. Anyone notice that the black lab they kept parading around as a black lab had erect ears? I think I saw ONE new source all it a lab mix, the rest called it a black lab, which anyone that knows labs can see its not. It happens more times than people will admit I think.

I know Last year by us they had a case where a "pit" attacked a daschund. As reported on the news. They showed a picture of the dog and it was some sort of shitzu mix or someting, anyone with a brain could see it wasn't a dachsund, not even close.

Then they showed the evil Pit in the shelter awaiting testing for about 2 seconds, vaguely looked like a pit bull, maybe had some it in it somewhere along the line, maybe, but since the dog wasn't looking too aggressive the news channel promptly threw up a graphic of a viscous looking dog totally unrelated to the case.

I find that recently, any news story that I'm even remotely involved in has more descrpencies with what I've witnessed or been a part of than facts, makes me really skeptic of what they tell us every night on the news.